Have you seen all the “New Year, New Me” memes? I’ve got a better one: New Congress, New Chance for equal pay!

That’s right — this new 116th Congress, the most diverse in history, is the best shot we’ve had in years to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. And the time to get your members of Congress on board is now, because we want as many co-sponsors of the Paycheck Fairness Act as possible before the bill is introduced on January 30th.

→ TELL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS: Co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act!
*** The more co-sponsors the bill has before introduction, the stronger its chance of passing!

Why do we need the Paycheck Fairness Act? Because right now, women of color and moms still earn far too little compared to white men and dads. Moms are typically paid just 69 cents for every dollar paid to dads, while Latinas are paid 53 cents, Native American women 58 cents, Black women 61 cents, and Asian women 85 cents for every dollar paid to white men. Overall, women make 80 cents on the dollar. 

The Paycheck Fairness Act will help! This smart policy would close loopholes in the Equal Pay Act and:

• Protect against retaliation for discussing salaries with colleagues;
• Prohibit employers from screening job applicants based on their salary history or requiring salary history during the interview and hiring process;
• Require employers to prove that pay disparities exist for legitimate, job-related reasons;
• Provide plaintiffs who file sex-based wage discrimination claims under the Equal Pay Act with the same remedies available to plaintiffs who file race- or ethnicity-based wage discrimination claims under the Civil Rights Act; and
• Create a negotiation skills training program for women and girls.

URGE YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS to co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act today!
*We’ll deliver these signatures ASAP and just in time for the planned introduction of the bill in a few weeks.

Along with the Paycheck Fairness Act, solutions like paid family and medical leave and paid sick days help close the insidious wage gap.

On average, women lose out on over $10,000 each year because of unequal pay. That’s $10,000 that could be spent on groceries, childcare, healthcare, and education.

This has to stop! We need the Paycheck Fairness Act to be reintroduced with strong support from our members of Congress.

Raise your voice now for the Paycheck Fairness Act!

The wage gap is real and it has very real impacts on working families.

MomsRising member, Laura, shared the following:

“While wage discrimination based on gender is often difficult to prove, I was in a unique position to find out. The person who was earning more than me for doing the same job was my partner and now husband! We met nine years ago as graduate students at Columbia. We graduated together with the EXACT same degree. Two years later when we became employed by the same agency for the EXACT same position as a school-based clinician, just at different school sites, yet we were dumbfounded by our salary offers.

As his first job within the field he was offered $41,000 a year while I was offered only $35,700 a year, a whopping 13 percent less! We both naturally believed that I would actually earn more than him for several reasons: Prior to graduate school, I worked in the field for five years, had outstanding references and held a California Pupil Personnel Services Credential, all of which substantially "beefed" up my resume in comparison to my husband's. And yet, my salary offer was more than $5,000 less. The only reasons we could possibly think of were two other "straightforward" differences: I am female and Chinese American. My husband? White and male.”

Don’t waste any time! Tell your members of Congress to co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act!